Well im back again with another algae issue. I solved my diatom outbreak in my 29g with ottos. Very cool little guys Im glad I read about them on here. I lost one of 4 during aclimation, but he had a nipped tail fin when I got him and I didnt notice till I got home.
Now ive got a bad case of green water algae. It started a 12 days ago and has gotten worse. I cant see past 3".
So after 50% water changes every other day for the first week I slowed down to 25% every 3 days. I tried dosing tetra algae control and it didnt do anything. After reading some articles I tried calling local pet stores to rent a diatom or UV filter. No one here in Columbus rents them. But the lady at Aquarium Adventures, where I got all of my plants, said that the ONLY way to get rid of it is a UV sterilizer, which they would gladly sell me for only $160... Well I dont have an extra $160 laying around before the Holidays and need to find another solution.
Now after reading online I found a few other suggestions so, after the Tetra Algae Control (didnt work) I have the Blackout method which I am scared of because I have alot of DHG and dont want to kill it, I read it does not survive a 3 day Blackout. Or the Diatom/UV filter(too expensive right now). Beyond those does anyone else have any suggestions.
H202 maybe?? Does that work on green water?
Whats weird is I had it in my 10g dirt tank when it was first cycling and it cleared up in a couple of days with large water changes. Should I keep up with the heavy water change schedule and pray??
My 90G is green too.

No NPK+micros and the tank has quite a lot of light and CO2? My very first GW siege a decade ago was worse than yours and after blackouts and water changes it turned out the tank was running out of nitrate. I dosed 1/2 tsp potassium nitrate daily for a few days and the GW vanished. Too bad that one hasn't worked since!

Usually it is triggered by an ammonia event though. Until I got my marvelous Poret sponges in the sump I was having regular issues with green water. Check your filter to be sure it isn't clogged? Modify your intake so you can put on a huge prefilter sponge for more bio?

Besides the UV you could go out and spend money on a diatomaceous earth filter. Lots of gizmos out there to help us out!

Wow that LFS is evil. They are just trying to rip you off with over priced band-aids-just like that good for nothing tetra Algae killer. Green water is not a big deal. You have lots of little plants floating around in your water. Just be thankful they haven't latched on to all your plants killing all the leaves. Green water will not develop without nutrients. Either your root tabs are leaching nutrients into the water column, or you are adding tons of fish food or there is a dead fish rotting in there.. The second thing they really need is light. Your light sounds great for these tanks, but the thing is photoperiod. Forgetting to turn your lights off for a day or 2 will cause green water in no time(AS LONG AS THERE ARE NUTRIENTS PRESENT (Algae is not a paranormal being, it needs the basic building blocks to multiply as do most all living things: C, N, P)).

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I have been dealing with it in a couple of different ways. First I cut my photo period to 8 hrs, then I have turned up CO2 on both tanks and now running 24 hrs, on the 29g Ive been trying API algae fix for 4 days, I dosed once, then waited 3 days then dosed again waited 24 hrs and dosed again, thats right now. Im hoping after a big WC tomorrow I will see clear water but I dont have high hopes, so far I have only seen a slight reduction in the Green tint in the 29G Dosed tank. Its still very cloudy and its already had 2 doses of Algaefix. If this doesnt work I will have to wait till after the holidays to buy a UV steralizer.I dont think I can stand another month of these green tanks, Everyone who was here at Thanksgiving was like "Ohh what happened, you know you gotta clean them things right" Not knowing all the time and effort in water changes, planting,trimming and testing I put in trying to make it look good. I felt like putting a sheet over them

Update.. I have been reducing light cycles, shut off 1 lamp, and I tried API algaefix. Still green... So I broke down and ordered a UV steralizer. Just dont tell my wife I ordered a Sun sun/perfect canister filter rated at 565 GPH and it has a UV steralizer built in. It was 98$ to my door including media. (bio balls,pads.carbon) I have a smaller sun sun on my 90g that I am going to switch to my 29g after I get both tanks clear. After the addition of the new filter my setup will be..90g-AC110+565gph sun sun, and on the 29g I will be adding the 265gph sun sun to it, it already has a 40g HOB on it but I guess you can never have too much filtration. I plan on taking before and after shots when the filter arrives and will post, HOPEFULLY Clear water...

You will definitely get clear water. I had a horrible green water problem where I could not even see 1 inch past my tank. I use the newer version of the sunsun which I believe is called Grech. 2 days later and I have ridiculous clear water without having to put any media.

I have a 30 gallon also. I plan to just pack some bio balls and the rest into filter floss along with a HOB. I am thinking about adding filter floss to get crystal clear water since I can easily replace the filter floss on a HOB.

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